1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrically powered food processing equipment, generally, and, more specifically, to a food ingredient grinder and ingredient hopper and methods of grinding food ingredient, such as coffee beans.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Food ingredient grinders of the type designed to grind food ingredient, such as coffee beans, are well known. Modern coffee grinders, such as the FETCO GR Series coffee grinders sold by Food Equipment Technologies Company, Inc., assignee of the present invention, have a support frame to which are mounted at least one ingredient hopper for containing a supply of the ingredient, i.e. whole coffee beans that have not been ground, or are unground. In the case of the FETCO GR-1 and GR-3 coffee grinders, there is only one hopper, respectively, having capacities of six and twenty pounds of coffee beans to be ground in preselected amounts from 1-3 pounds. The beans are dropped out of an outlet at the bottom of the hopper during a preselected time period that an electronically controlled closure of a hopper outlet opening, or hopper outlet, at the bottom of the hopper is opened. The coffee beans fall through the hopper until the approximate amount of preselected quantity of coffee beans has passed through the opening.
In the case of the FETCO GR-2 coffee grinder, there are two separate hoppers that have separately controlled closures and which are capable of mixing the beans of different types of coffee beans in the same grind or to alternatively and selectively grind different types of coffee, such as caffeinated and uncaffeinated. In such case, the whole coffee beans are passed through a Y-shaped manifold with two inlets, one from each of the two separate hoppers, that passes the mixture through a single manifold outlet opening, or manifold outlet, through a shared, common input to a shared, common grinding chamber. An electronically controlled gating system fixedly mounted within the housing is used to selectively open one or the other of the two hoppers to deposit coffee beans into the grinding chamber. In the case of a single hopper, there is no need for a manifold or a gating system and the coffee beans pass directly into the grinding chamber through a direct, or I-shaped, hopper outlet conduit that is likewise fixedly mounted within the housing.
The coffee beans pass from the I-shaped hopper outlet conduit or pass from the Y-shaped manifold outlet, to the grinding chamber within which are contained intermeshing grinding blades, or grinding wheels, that receive whole coffee beans at the upper inlet to the chamber to be ground. The whole beans are ground by the rotating grinding blades and then are passed through the grinding blades to a grinding chamber outlet, or grinder outlet.
Beneath the grinder outlet is located a brew basket with a conforming filter paper within which is received the freshly ground coffee. The brew basket is removed after the grinding cycle has ended and after all of the preselected coffee is contained within the brew basket. The brew basket is then removed from the grinder and attached to a coffee brewer where hot water is passed through the freshly ground coffee to brew hot coffee. Once one brew basket is removed from the grinder another can take its place and another grinding cycle can commence.
A portion of the front wall of the housing, which also forms a wall of the hopper, has a plastic, transparent or translucent window. The window enables the operator to view when the hopper is low and needs to be refilled with more beans without having to open the hopper lid and to view inside to do so. The hoppers are permanently mounted within, and integrally formed together, in part, with a housing of the grinder assembly within which all of the elements of the coffee grinder are protectively contained. Accordingly, the hoppers must be filled in place within the housing by opening a lid covering the open top of the hopper, lifting a bag or other container of coffee beans and dumping them into the open top of the hopper.
If it is desired to change the type of coffee contained within a hopper, say from mocha java coffee to kona coffee, then the hopper must be emptied of the one before the other is introduced, unless it is desired to mix them together. In the case of any one hopper, it is not possible to change the coffee that is introduced into the grinding chamber from that one hopper without first having the one hopper emptied. There is no convenient way of emptying the hopper except by grinding the coffee until all of the beans in the hopper have been ground. Consequently, in the case of a single hopper system, it is also not possible to easily change from one type of coffee to another. In such case, separate grinders are needed for grinding different types of coffees that are required during the same period.
Coffee dust and other coffee constituents from the grinding process and also from the beans themselves stick to the walls of the hopper. Accordingly, even when the beans of one type are removed from the hopper and another type added in its place, there is still some residual coffee of the one type or types previously contained within the hopper that can contaminate the current coffee contained within the hopper. There is no way of conveniently cleaning the hopper. Disadvantageously, while the hopper is being cleaned, the grinding assembly cannot be used. With the hopper in place over the manifold and the grinding chamber, there is no convenient access to these elements for operator cleaning or operator service. The hoppers are in the way and can only be removed with the use of tools needed to disconnect the hopper from the outlet closure gate or disconnecting the linkage with the gate control solenoid that is connected with the outlet closure gate.
In accordance with the present invention, the disadvantages of known coffee grinder assemblies and hoppers and known grinding methods for food ingredients, such as coffee, are overcome by provision of a gating system and other features that enable the hoppers to be readily removed or replaced for purpose of cleaning and for enabling the changing between different types of ingredient to be ground by interchanging the hoppers that contain the different types of ingredient and by other advantageous features and methods that are described here.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention a grinder assembly for grinding a food ingredient and having a frame, a protective housing mounted to the frame, a grinding chamber containing at least one powered grinding member mounted to the frame within the housing, is provided with a removable hopper assembly having a removable ingredient hopper for holding ingredient to be ground, said ingredient hopper having an open top for receipt of ingredient to be ground, a bottom with an electronically controllable hopper outlet opening for controlled passage of the ingredient into the grinding chamber, and opposite hopper sides extending between the open top and the outlet opening, and an electronic hopper outlet control assembly for selectively controlling closure of the hopper outlet, and a tool-less removable mounting assembly for releasably mounting the hopper to the frame and within the housing and in tool-less releasable operative engagement with the electronic control assembly to enable manual, tool-less removal of the hopper from the frame to without the housing, whereby the controlled hopper is readily manually removable from the housing for hopper replacement, ingredient reloading or cleaning without the need for tools to disconnect the hopper from the electronic control assembly.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention a method is provided for grinding with a grinder assembly having means for grinding a food ingredient and having a frame, a protective housing mounted to the frame, a grinding chamber containing at least one powered grinding member mounted to the frame within the housing, by performing the steps of placing ingredient to be ground into a removable ingredient hopper, said ingredient hopper having an open top for receipt of ingredient to be ground, a bottom with an electronically controllable hopper outlet opening for controlled passage of the ingredient into the grinding chamber, and opposite hopper sides extending between the open top and the outlet opening, and releasably mounting the hopper with ingredient within the housing and with a closure member of the electronically controlled hopper outlet opening in positional relationship with an electronic hopper closure control member mounted within the housing, and selectively controlling closure of the hopper outlet with an electronic hopper closure member to pass unground ingredient to the grinding chamber, and grinding the ingredient that is passed to the grinding chamber from the hopper outlet.
In accordance with yet a further aspect of the invention, a grinder assembly for grinding a food ingredient and having a frame, a generally opaque protective housing mounted to the frame and having a window opening for viewing into the housing, a grinding chamber containing at least one powered grinding member mounted to the frame within the housing, is provided with a removable hopper assembly comprising a removable ingredient hopper with at least a portion defining a translucent window area that is carried by the ingredient hopper to enable viewing into the ingredient hopper, and a hopper mounting assembly for aligned mounting of the hopper inside the housing in an operative aligned relationship with respect to the grinding chamber, and with at least a portion of the translucent window area of the hopper aligned with the window opening in the housing to enable viewing into the hopper through the window opening and the translucent area aligned with the window from outside of the housing when the hopper is mounted inside the housing, said mounting assembly being configured to enable the tool-less, manual removal of the hopper with translucent window from the frame and housing, whereby the hopper with translucent window is readily removable for hopper replacement, ingredient replacement repair or cleaning.
Pursuant to a further aspect of the invention a method for grinding ingredient is provided for use with a grinder assembly for grinding a food ingredient and having a frame and a grinding chamber with powered grinding blades mounted to the frame comprising the steps of placing a load of unground ingredient into an ingredient hopper with a translucent window, and releasably mounting the hopper containing the unground ingredient inside a housing with the translucent window aligned with a window opening in the housing to enable viewing into the hopper through the window from outside of the housing when the hopper is mounted inside the housing, and dropping unground ingredient from the hopper to a grinding chamber containing powered grinding blades to grind the ingredient, and grinding the unground ingredient in the grinding chamber.
The object of the invention is also achieved by providing a food ingredient hopper assembly adapted for use with a food grinder assembly with a manually portable, removable, container shaped body for containing a supply of ingredient to be ground by a mating grinding assembly with which the body is dimensioned for releasable mounted engagement, and a hopper outlet opening at the bottom of the container shaped body, and a hopper outlet closure assembly mounted to the body adjacent to the hopper outlet opening and having a closure member, and a mounting assembly attached to the body for mounting the closure member for movement between a closed position in which the outlet member is blocked closed by the closure member, and an open position in which the closure member is clear of the outlet opening.
Likewise, the object of the invention is achieved in part by providing a food ingredient hopper assembly adapted for use with a food grinder assembly having a manually portable, removable, container shaped body for containing a supply of ingredient to be ground by a mating grinding assembly with which the body is dimensioned for releasable mounted engagement, said body having an open top, a bottom with a hopper outlet opening and opposite sides that extend between the open top and the outlet opening, at least one support member extending laterally from at least one of the opposite sides of the body adjacent the open top, said at least one support member having an underside positioned vertically relative to the hopper outlet opening for hanging support of the hopper body from an underlying mating support member of the grinder assembly with the hopper outlet opening in the correct outlet position within the grinder assembly.
Accomplishment of the invention is also accomplished in part by provision of a method of grinding with a food ingredient grinder having a grinding chamber and a hopper for containing a supply of unground food ingredient to be passed to the grinding chamber for grinding by performing the steps of removably mounting the hopper to the housing by hanging the hopper from laterally extending mounting members that extend laterally from the sides of the hopper, manually removing the hopper from the housing by manually lifting the hopper by the laterally extending mounting members, and using the laterally extending mounting members as handles to manually carry the hopper to a location spaced from the housing for cleaning or reloading with ingredient. Preferably, the mounting members have downwardly turned portions to facilitate mounting and use as handles.